A re-investigation of the kinetics of yeast phosphoglycerate kinase in the direction of 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate formation has been carried out, covering a 1000-fold range in substrate concentrations. A variety of improved spectrophotometric and fluorimetric assay procedures have been used. 2. Kinetic plots proved to be non-linear for each variable substrate. A variety of checks have been carried out to show that this is not due to artifacts in the assay procedures or heterogeneity of the enzyme preparation. 3. The effects of a variety of salts on the activity of the enzyme have been examined. Most salts, especially those with multivalent anions, can cause activation of the enzyme, but inhibit at high concentration. 4. The salt effect is shown to be principally due to anions rather than cations, and not to ionic strength changes. Sulphate, as one of the most effective anions has been used in most comparisons. 5. Salt activation is steepest when the substrate concentrations are low; maximum activation has been about 5-fold with 0.2 mM MgATP and 0.2 mM 3-phosphoglycerate. Inhibition at the higher salt concentrations is strongest at the same substrate concentrations as when activation is steepest, indicating a link between the two effects. 6. The presence of 20 mM or more Na2SO4 converted non-linear kinetic plots to linear ones. A study of the kinetics in the presence of 40 mM Na2SO4 was interpreted in terms of a random sequential binding mechanism, with sulphate acting as a competitive inhibitor. 7. Possible explanations for these anomalous results are discussed in terms of several mechanisms which have been shown to apply in other systems.
